Rites of Spring

Springtime means renewal. Our new hopes haven’t been dashed yet, and reality hasn’t had time to hammer our new found expectancy into its proper place. The ones we design through our thoughts and acquaintances, plus a few failures along the way. Okay, sounds a bit negative I know, and sometimes our planting in the spring, with proper care and watering turns into a great harvest in the fall. As long as we kill the weeds during the Summer, lest they take over.

This Spring marks the second straight year a mama bird has picked an outdoor light fixture as her safeguard against the elements and prey. The nest is just outside our bedroom window, which is on the second floor. As the photo shows, we don’t use the light; the bulb would cause harm to the babes, and it might even be a fire hazard with the bulb’s heat against all of the nesting material.

It’s a nice Spring ritual; everything new and coming alive, the serenade of hungry chicks when Mom brings another mouthful of nourishment, lush greenery and beautiful spring flowers filling out overnight, it seems. On Saturday mornings for a few weeks I hear the frequent sounds during a feeding frenzy. Today they are no doubt ready to go out on their own, exploring the big, new world with no self-imposed limitations on what they can do.

Check out the one on the left. Seems to be the ringleader. I figure this will be the first one out, the one that has the most fun, and the most likely candidate to get eaten by a cat. If only they can survive those teenage years…..

We’ll look out in a few days and they’ll all be gone, with an empty nest to remind us of the beauty and miracle of birth, the nurturing, and yet another cycle of life we’ve had the pleasure of experiencing.

I absolutely love Spring. If for no other reason, because life is renewing, if only for a season. It’s something to look forward to even in a trying time. Despite extreme hardships, there is hope, as reflected in Alexander Pope’s quote:

Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be Blest.